blonde poker forum

I apologize if this has been covered before but i can't recollect such a thread.

I have personally been thinking about why I play poker for the last couple of days and how my attitude to the game has changed, probably for the worse. I'm interested to hear others views on this.

To get the ball rolling, i started playing the game online for 5c/10c limit over 3 years ago on the internet. The first couple of months i was addicted i played constantly every spare moment, I just got so much enjoyment from the challenge of it all. The money was just a way of keeping score. I wasn't good, in fact i was awful looking back at my play but i was good enough to beat the penny levels.

I read and read, poker books, forums the lot. I am competitive soul and if I'm going to do something, i want to be good at it and preferably win. I got better and started beating higher levels on the internet.

Well to cut a long story short about a year ago, I really wasn't enjoying my job (I was a Maths Teacher) and I was making a fair bit out of poker. So i took the plunge and took a sabbatical from teaching to chase the dream of an online pro. I'm still doing it now and to be honest teaching seem less attractive by the day.

Yet my reason for playing poker has changed i take enjoyment from winning and making money. I still love the game but its the winning that counts and all the reasons i started playing are somewhere in the background to chasing the mighty $.

I find this quite sad in a way but that is the bottom line now.

* Disclaimer I realise the poll is not scientific and you all probably could tick more than one box.

I have a feeling this poll can only go one way :D

So anyways i was playing tonight, i got aces and raised....................

.......................and got called by Q 10.......

I started playing for two of the listed reasons, to give my young teenage friends something to think about while drinking illicit Malibu while at the same time taking their substantial pocket monies.

Then having experienced temp work for three days in Hobbs (from which I was let go for being 'non-sales driven' i.e. crap) the internet stepped in to let me keep my head above water for the next year and a half.

Then I met blonde, and started to work for them, and poker has become all about the sheer competition.  I've been lucky enough to get a chance to play in some tournaments which are way over my little bankroll (on which I keep a vicelike grip) and that is about the most fun I've ever had while totally sober.  Now I split my time grinding the money for my car insurance online, and attempting to qualify for more of those. 

I consider it to be part masochism, part Jedi-like self-control training - far from telling other people my bad beats, I tend to consider whether, in the long run, I have played correctly, and just sit in the lotus position in front of my computer feeling the calm in the middle of other people's maths-dodging storm.

What a fantastic post! I lurrrrve it. I feel much the same Jen, and I am convinced that good bankroll management is the main reason I'm still in the game two years down the line.  :respect:

Sorry to buck the trend but I really do not play because of the money............don't get me wrong I like the money but it is purely a side effect of wanting to be the best I can possibly be at a chosen hobby.
Poker became my hobby coming up to 4 years ago as I approached my fortieth birthday when somebody told me it was and I quote "ALL downhill from here". I was reading an article about the world series and immeadiately after telling the person concerned what I thought about his opinions on age. I decided as I returned to my paper that I would learn to play the game and go and play in the world series.

Last year my motivation carried me to the WSOP.............

Along the way I have made money...........
Played on a cruise
Played in the Bahamas
Played in Walsall.........not sure I knew where it ewas before I took up the game
Won numerous iddy biddy tournies
Final tabled in festival events

And best of all as regards achievements won the Blonde Bash 3.

Since I came back from the WSOP I have realised that I just love the competition but I mainly love live competition.
The great thing about being an enthusiastic amateur is I only play when I want to and not because I have to..........this suits me.

It's definitely a combination.  It's the intellectual challenge, combined with the fact I can make money at the same time.

I used to play chess when I was younger at a very high level, but got fairly bored with it (not going to make any money playing, and to reach even a slightly higher level would require a lot of time, dedication and effort).  Was intrigued by poker, and the idea of playing a game, being intellectually challenged, AND making money at the same time.

If I can reach the same level in poker as I did at chess, then I'll be very happy - and a lot wealthier than I am now. 

I just wish I was 10-years younger, and online poker had been around when I was at uni. 

...the flop comes Q T A rainbow......

Being a quite competitive person... I enjoy this aspect of the game.

I'm too fat n old to play the sports I used to play at . I could still
play fives or a bit of volleyball but where's the fun in beating other fat n old
people!!!

I started playing cards two years ago . I have no background in this. Never played
any card games at all in my 39 years. I don't like gambling and never touch horses , dogs or football
at a bookies.
Now instead of competing physically I can compete mentally. I also believe I now have a pastime
that I can play for the rest of my days.
I have no delusions as to my standard of play. I'm pretty poor but another aspect
I enjoy is attempting to get better!! I won my first MTT on UB at the new year and
my next goal is to qualify  for a major live event. This will need to be after April though
as I've used up all my holiday entitlement at work!!
I definitely do not play for money. ;D

Regards

 Td Th

I play because I'm fundamentally lazy.

When given a task which takes 3 hours to do, I'd much rather spend 6 hours working out how to do it in 30 minutes. As a result of our totally broken 'go at the speed of the slowest' education system I was never really pushed at school and so never developed a work ethic.

Gambling had the allure of enabling me to make money by using my intelligence without having to work at it. I'd dabbled with horse racing and sports betting but quickly realised that to be successful at this actually requires huge amounts of effort (in terms of research). I then tried poker and immediately hit paydirt as an inate understanding of the fundamental principles, plus discipline, was really all I needed to make tidy sums, get free holidays, and get on TV.

Hitting the inevitable dry spell (along with the raise in standard of internet players) made me realise that maintaining the good times did require effort and research, but because I loved the game so much I didn't classify this as real work.

I'm not sure there's a box for me up there.  I play poker because I enjoy the game, and it's my hobby - that's about it.  It's always nice to win, of course, but I still consider an evening playing losing poker to be a fun evening (which is just as well :D)

Good point Claw i meant to put an option in that was along those lines, i will edit the poll. Poll re editted, tikay has a point lol.

With respect Longy, you can't really change the Poll questions at this stage, as some have voted already, so the integrity of the Polll would be compromised.

BANANAS!!

 ;sexybanana; ;sexybanana; ;sexybanana; ;sexybanana; ;sexybanana; ;sexybanana;

You are not alone.  I think I'm the laziest person I know - unless I'm doing something I enjoy, then I give 100%.  Poker has this appeal to me (as does playing sport, and any jobs that I enjoy doing and can do when I want to do them).  I have a low boredom threshold, and the challenge of playing poker has managed to keep me interested/hooked.

Although I appreciated what Claw said that there is enjoyment from playing - I don't think I'd still be playing if I wasn't winning.  I'm too competitive to just 'take part'.  Also, if I can't develop and improve as a player, then I don't think the appeal will last.  I'm never going to be the best in the world, but as long as I can improve and become a more winningester (that's a real word, honest) player, then the enjoyment is still there for me.

When i started out i must say it was because of the money. I never ever won at the start or came close. I was the biggest fish ever. I played on what i liked to call at the time as 'instinct' which was basically i will bloody play any two cards if i want too. This probably went on for 6 months or so til the very first edition of pokerplayer magazine was advertised on tv with the picture of devilfish on the front. I literally ranout and hunted it down in WH Smiths. I found it such a great read, with freeroll opportunities, simple analysis of hands and player interviews. I found that i fell in love with reading about poker and have sunsequently read most of the literature out there. My favourites being Sklansky, Supersystem 2 but the biggest one or at least the most enjoyable was Caro's book of tells. I decided that i was not a player who took naturally to the game but with eerything i do i was prepared to become a student of it and just practice, practice, practice til i felt was good enough to actually put a fair bit of money into it. The benefit at the time was that i was a poor student and couldnt have put money in if i had wanted too!
But it wasnt the money i was interested in. It was the competition and i have always been super competitve and felt this game offered me the best chance of finding it (what other game can you play that is as intriguing as poker and that is possible to play 24 hours a day!).
I am definately a live player although i have qualified for a few TV tournaments online. I never really had the roll to get into cash games so mainly play live mtt's in grosvenor cardiff. The highest buy in i have ever payed is 75 quid for the APAT comps but hopefully one day will be buyinh in to bigger ones!
So to sum up i definately play for the competition not the money. I play to try and get respect from fellow players but also just love to win. I am never devestated when i bubble because of the money, im devestated because i wont have that first place!

I wouldn't want the integrity of the poll compromised, so if Longy wants to remove the last option, I'll just vote for the IFM one instead :D

 :goodpost:, honest one.

This is exactly my story, though i havn't been on tv yet(without an e-fit)

For me its........

Onlinë: to make money.

Live: To have fun. Playing live is ace.

The reason for this may be that live im just playing for 15, 30 quid with people ive come to know, but online im playing for anything upto $100-$200 a pop trying to grind out results against strangers.

I play to spend 5 hours plodding away and going out on the bubble in two sats...

 ;grr;

;whistle;

standard

right now im on a 3 year plan

1st year..to build up my bankroll to a sufficient level..


2nd year...to maintain this bankroll whilst creaming off a good sum


3rd year...to quit my poxy job



this 3 year plan may be extended/delayed by anything up to 20 years

Good Post...

I started playing to...
(a) Stop throwing money away on sports betting.
(b) to compete at ever increasing levels against more experienced players
(c) to try and build a bankroll minus living deductions of $200k
(d) to change my lifestyle
(e) to meet people
(f) to travel to different parts of the world playing poker


Since Nov 2005 I have been able to do all the above except (c) ...

Target 2007 is to achieve (c) ....

Bring it on.